


life is a lemon and i want my money back

by monstermash



Series: kiss your knuckles [3]
Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Multi, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, V is trans, original character is mentioned for like 5 seconds tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-05-19 10:38:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19355329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monstermash/pseuds/monstermash
Summary: “Famous last words.”





	life is a lemon and i want my money back

**Author's Note:**

> does any of this make any coherent sense? probably not. am i hella gay and soft for these two even though the game hasn't come out yet? absolutely.

Things haven’t always been this easy between them, especially in the beginning.

(“I don’t have the best track record,” he’d warned V in an attempt at full disclosure, as much as he was able to. “I’ll probably break your heart.”)

Johnny knows he can be an absolute asshole at times – okay, most of the time if he’s being completely honest; being nice isn’t his main priority, isn’t something that comes naturally to him all that often anymore – and he’s well aware of V’s recklessness and lack of self-preservation.

(“You sound awfully damn sure of yourself,” V replied with a smirk, both pretty and distracting. “Who knows, maybe I’ll break your heart instead.”)

But the thing is, is that for as much as they’re both stubborn as fuck, as much as they can drive each other up the god damn walls, V cares.

V cares about the well-being of the people around him, even if they’re strangers. He cares about how his actions affect others and does what he thinks will minimize the damage to anyone unfairly caught in the crossfire. And that’s not something he’s used to seeing in a lot of the people he’s been with.

 _(‘You just might,’_ Johnny caught himself thinking.)

\---

They watch the neon signs spark and explode like fireworks, hear the yelps of surprise, and the lights cast V in a strange glow.

“Didn’t know you could do that,” V says around the lit cigarette that hangs almost precariously from his lips.

“It’s not enough to burn the city down, but I’ll get there,” Johnny quips, dragging his gaze away from the man next to him. “Practice makes perfect and all that bullshit.”

A faint, lopsided smile curls its way onto V’s face.

“Famous last words.”

\---

Night City never sleeps; it was true when Johnny still had a pulse and it’s still true now as he walks far ahead of V who is trying to keep up despite all the people on the street.

“Wait the fuck up, asshole.” No one pays attention when V speaks, not out in the open, which is why Johnny gets a kick out of annoying him this way; it’s one of the few times V doesn’t have to be careful about when he talks to him in public. “You don’t even know where we’re going!”

Johnny stops at the end of the narrow street, waiting for V who throws him a scowl.

“So are you going to tell me where we’re going then?”

“What, and ruin the mystery?” V asks, a grin replacing the scowl. “Nah, I like keeping you on your holographic toes.”

\---

V’s tongue sticks out in disgust as he tries wiping his bloody hands against his jeans.

“I fuckin’… _hate_ wetwork jobs.”

“At least most of the blood isn’t yours this time.” Johnny flickers when someone walks through him. That’ll never stop being weird. “There are other jobs you can take you know. Not that I’m against corpos getting’ what’s coming to them, but…”

It was something he’d noticed about V pretty early on; as much as V liked splitting knuckles in fights, he’s always reluctant to actually kill. Not that he won’t if it comes right down to it or if it’s the only option, but V apparently tries to avoid it whenever possible.

With a shrug, V leans back against the door as the tram-car rattles on down the track. “Yeah, but this one was a favor. Besides, with Jackie out of commission I need to take as many high paying jobs as I can get, and that’s usually wetwork. Gotta make rent somehow.”

They lapse into silence and Johnny watches V, who’s watching the brightly lit districts of Night City go by, and he wonders.

“Still,” Johnny finally says after a time. “Could’ve been something else.”

It’s vague, but he knows V gets what he means.

“Not really good for much else. Can’t sing for shit, never really saw the appeal in getting fried in Netrunner gear, and I’m sure as hell no Dexter DeShawn. Might’ve tried being a Joy Boy, but Madame Violet was right when she said I’m shit at customer service.” There’s a half smile on his face as he finally looks away from the blurred lights. “She’s, uh, the one who called in the favor about the corpo.”

Johnny quirks a brow at V; the name doesn’t sound familiar to him, but decades spent in a bio-chip will do that.

“She took me in after I ran away,” V explains quietly, turning his attention back to the world passing by. “She didn’t have to, but she’s like me, and I wasn’t the only street kid she sheltered. Violet’s done a lot for me over the years. Sending a message to the corpos to mind their manners with the Joy Boys and Girls really is the least I can do.”

 _Even if it leaves you stinking of blood,_ Johnny thinks but doesn’t say.

(He’s all too familiar with that from his own experiences, one of the many reasons he turned to music. One good thing about being what he is now is that he doesn’t have to suffer reliving those memories in his sleep.)

It’s a wonder that there’s still a soft heart in V. Night City tends to kill that in people. Or, y’know, at least makes it very difficult to keep.

“You’re something else, Valentine Lynx,” Johnny tells him, mouth curling into a smile of his own.

(He doesn’t genuinely smile often; all the shit that has happened to him and everyone he ever cared about has seen to that.)

V raises an eyebrow back at him, one corner of his mouth quirking upwards. “Full name, huh? Should I take that as an insult, Johnny Silverhand?”

“I meant it as a compliment,” Johnny answers honestly before leaning in close, enjoying the small hitch in V’s breathing as he does. “But you can take it however you want.”

The red that spreads on V’s face and stretches down to his collarbone suits him a lot better than the red staining his hands and clothes.

The metro comes to a stop and V slips out before the incoming wave of people makes it impossible to leave. No one gives him a second look despite the still fresh blood on his hands, and no one gives him a second thought as his posture slightly changes, leaning ever so slightly to the left, when Johnny drapes an arm over his shoulders.

There’s just faint static that passes for pressure and whispered words that people in passing will only ever catch half of.


End file.
